GREGORY ALLAN FITZPATRICK'S SNORUNGARNAS SYMFONI

The last album of Samla Mammas Manna's first phase (before they metamorphosed into Zamla Mammaz Manna) is a jazzy collaboration with Gregory Allan FitzPatrick, whose compositions the band interpret in their usual Canterbury-influenced style. A bit more accessible and engaging than their preceding album, and with less circus music about it than any previous Samla disc, the album sounds to me like Caravan and the Uncle Meat incarnation of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention getting together in order to record musical backing for classic Tom and Jerry cartoons; it's whimsical, clever, and playful, and tempered with just a little bit of nostalgia.